Runics
by absinthe96
Summary: Magic is wonderful. Magic is power. Magic is sacrifice.


**A/N: I do not own Avengers, nor any character part of the Marvel Universe. I make no money from this story.**

** This story is set after The Avengers but before Iron Man 3 or Thor: The Dark World.  
**

* * *

Frigga walked through the halls slowly, in search of her youngest son. She knew an extensive search would not be necessary, and she was proved correct when Thor's loud shout and Loki's subsequent laughter echoed from the training ground. Remorse trailed through her heart at the thought of tomorrow's activities. She loathed another wall of differences to be placed between the brothers.

"Loki," she called when she reached the pair.

"Mother." His eyes dipped to the ground and his face was anything but innocent when he met her gaze.

"I fear your brother has been taken for a fool enough today." The boy laughed, the tinkling tenor enough to cause even Thor to smile at the joyous sound.

"Is it time to practice?" Loki's excitement was near enough to dispel Frigga's morose thoughts.

"Yes, dear one. I will be along in a moment." He ran off the training ground and disappeared into the grand palace. Frigga waited until she was certain Loki could no longer hear and turned to her eldest son. The look on his mother's face effectively silenced Thor's rant on the unfairness of magic.

"Try not to be so hard on your brother simply because he bests you using tricks, Thor. He is rather clever and you would do well to remember it." Frigga's gaze held a certain serious manner that had Thor blinking in surprise. The words almost sounded as a warning.

"I know my brother is intelligent. I just wish he did not draw such attention to his magic." Frigga's gaze softened at the protective words.

"You'll make a wise king yet." She smiled bitterly at her words. "I must join your brother before he wreaks too much havoc."

* * *

Loki sat calmly in the metal room, as he referred to the practice room. His mother insisted the grey walls helped shield them from prying eyes as Loki practiced his magic. He grinned slightly when the door opened, revealing a slightly exasperated Frigga.

"You mustn't torture the maids so, Loki!" She chastised him with gentle words, unable to summon proper anger. He simply closed his eyes, unable to repeat what the maids had done to invoke such a reaction from him. Frigga smiled and sat on the mat in front of her son. The mat was the only item in the room.

"As you well know, tomorrow is a special day for you." Loki perked up, genuine happiness lighting his features, but he knew better than to interrupt. "Two hundred is an important number, especially for those born with magic. This birthday signifies a change in your magic. Those born with magic must be able to ground their magic. The Norns decided long ago that the best way for sorcerers to ground themselves would be to divine handlers for the sorcerers. Each individual born with magic takes part in a ritual to let the Norns divine his or her handler. The second part of this ritual is performed in the individual's two hundredth birthday. This second ritual will start a series of visions that will lead the sorcerer to his or her handler. This ritual must be performed as the day changes to his or her birthday." She took a deep breath and looked at her youngest son, continuing when he had nothing to ask. "It is impossible to write the ritual in a book and can only be passed to others born with magic when the time comes." Loki stared at the hands in his lap as they twisted in nerves.

"So I must perform the ritual tonight?" His voice was soft, demure and Frigga prayed to Valhalla that her guesses would be disproved.

"Yes. After tonight you will not be able perform the ritual again and must search for a way to ground your magic by yourself." He understood what she did not add: no one had been successful in that endeavor thus far. Frigga saw the acceptance in Loki's eyes. She reach out and untangled his finger, grasping his hands with her own.

"Repeat after me:

_Vise mig,_

_Lys vejen,_

_SkÆbne og skÆbne,_

_En i samme,_

_Skrew for lÆnge siden,_

_Tryllekun sjÆl,_

_Delt i to,_

_Vise mig vejen,_

_Til fred og kÆrlighed._"

* * *

Frigga paced outside the door as midnight approached. She was forbidden from being in the room with her son for this part of the ritual and she feared the pain he could go though. Fate would not be kind to Loki, she knew. This ritual was simply the beginning. A scream tore from the room and she cringed. Her son did not deserved the destiny that had been divined for him and hope he had the strength to alter his fate.

Many hours later, much longer than should have passed, Frigga's face was soaked with tears. Odin had found her at dawn, instinctively knowing something was amiss with his son.

"Someone must have interfered. He should have come out by now." Loki's screams and cries had persisted uninterrupted through the night and showed no hint of stopping. Odin simply held his wife, unable to stop his own tears at their son's anguish.

Frigga was near in a daze when Loki quieted and the rune sealing the door faded from sight. She stood, dread flooding her core at what she would find. She cried out at the sight of her son, unable to move once she caught sight of the mangled body, She feared the worst. Odin hurried past her at the sound, pulling the tortured child into his arms.

"He's alive, Frigga, but we must take him to the healers."

* * *

When Thor looked back, trying to decipher when his brother had become so distant from him, the day was easy to pinpoint. The day of his two hundredth birthday. A day to be celebrated where a boy could begin to train as a man. Instead, Loki had disappeared for weeks on end. His bed and belongings were moved from their shared room on his birthday. Thor had feared Loki had died. But, surely Mother and Father would have told him.

Weeks after his birthday, Loki had reappeared, pale and drained of his former playful fire.

"Brother, I have missed you!" Loki simply gave him a scathing glare and attempted to brush past. "Loki?" He grabbed his brother's should, missing the wince Loki gave.

"Remove your hand, Thor. I must go meet Mother." The tone held anger and Thor blinked in shock.

"So soon after you have returned?" Loki rolled his eyes and continued to walk away.

Over the next few months, Loki warmed slightly, but his words always held a slight malice they had lacked. His tricks held a bit more pain. He shied away from any physical contact, mostly deciding to send an illusion when his presence was required outside of his room. He was never the same again.

Sentimentality.


End file.
